What is...Decolonising Knowledge in IR?

Episode 16

Decolonising knowledge in academia can be understood as the process of interrogating and reshaping research and teaching born out of a Eurocentric, colonial lens and maintained by power structures invested in it. How it this expressed in and what are the implications for the field of International Relations? What are the challenges? In this episode, we discuss such questions with Meera Sabaratnam (SOAS University of London), who has been working on issues of decolonisation, Eurocentrism, race and methodology in IR for many years, and has also been proactive in advancing the decolonisation agenda in academia. In conversation with Felix Berenskötter (SOAS University of London), Meera talks about her personal experiences and approach(es), the role of reflexivity, ethics and as well as obstacles to the practice of decolonising knowledge in academia more generally and IR in particular.

Sabaratnam, Meera

Sabaratnam, Meera (2011): IR in Dialogue … but Can We Change the Subjects? A Typology of Decolonising Strategies for the Study of World Politics. Millennium, 39 (3), pp. 781-803.

Sabaratnam, Meera (2017): Decolonising Intervention: International Statebuilding in Mozambique. London, Rowman and Littlefield.

Sabaratnam, Meera (2020): Is IR Theory White? Racialised Subject-positioning in Three Canonical Texts. Millenium: Journal of International Studies, 49 (1), pp. 3-31.

Sabaratnam, Meera (2022): 100 years of Empire and decolonisation. International Affairs, Archive Collection.

Césaire, Aimé (2000) [1955]: Discourse on Colonialism. New York, Monthly Review Press.

Ashcroft, Bill; Griffiths, Gareth & Tiffin, Helen (1995): The Postcolonial Studies Reader. London, Routledge.

Decolonising SOAS Working Group (2018): Decolonising SOAS Learning and Teaching Toolkit for Programme and Module Convenors.